Various articles are decorated by placing a decorative band of a shrinkable material around the article and then heating the band to cause it to shrink and to conform to the surface of the article. Spherical, cylindrical and irregularly shaped three-dimensional articles can be attractively ornamented in this manner. A few examples of such articles which can be conveniently decorated in this manner are fragile toys, glass articles, craft models and seasonal ornaments such as Christmas tree balls. This decorating technique possesses considerable advantages over prior techniques which involved decorating the articles by hand or by using silk screen or striping machinery. However, a serious problem is often encountered with use of such shrink-type decorative films, and particularly those which are transparent and only partially printed with a decoration. When a partially decorated transparent or a wholly translucent film is shrunk over a smooth or glossy surface, the result is often a blotchy appearance visible in the transparent areas and in translucent areas having a light ink coverage. The blotching results because of non-uniform shrinking of the shrinkable material resulting in visible non-attractive blotches of irregular size, shape and spacing. The blotching problem is magnified by the tacky, high-friction surface of the hot shrink material as it shrinks. Because of non-uniform heating and/or their inherent non-uniform shrink characteristics, heat-shrinkable films do not shrink at a uniform rate throughout the entire area thereof. This results in air being trapped under those film areas which shrink at a slower rate. Escape of the trapped air is prevented by the film areas which shrink at a faster rate and which become tightly secured to the surface of the articles. The difference in refractive index between these different areas underneath the film render them optically visible as blotches and detract from the appearance of the decorated object.